Pediatrician's Fraud Charges Going To Court

May 10, 1986|The Morning Call

A Pottsville pediatrician charged with defrauding the state's Medicaid program waived a preliminary hearing yesterday before District Justice Elizabeth Lurwick of Port Carbon, and will face the charges in Schuylkill County Court.

Dr. Ghaffer A. Zafar, 41, of 106 S. Claude A. Lord Blvd., was charged April 9 by state Attorney General LeRoy Zimmerman's office with 210 counts of Medicaid fraud, in part for billing patients for office visits that never occurred.

The charges stem from billings Zafar submitted to the state for screening and diagnostic tests given to children under the Medicaid program. Under Medicaid regulations, a doctor who provides these kinds of tests is entitled to a single reimbursement in a fixed amount for all costs associated with the test.

Zafar allegedly collected excess reimbursements by illegally filing claims for office visits by the patients in addition to the permitted claims for tests.

The alleged illegal billings took place between February 1983 and January 1985.

Each count against Zafar carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. He was released on his own recognizance.